Even as a large crowd had gathered around a bleeding and unconscious 18-year-old youth, whose motorcycle had collided against a divider in West Delhi’s Cantonment area, for a good 10 minutes no one offered his vehicle to rush him to a hospital.
Amidst the apathy shown by Delhiites passing by, it was an auto driver who emerged an unlikely hero and rushed the youth to DDU Hospital, around three kilometres from the accident spot.
The driver refused any offer of money from the onlookers and had silently driven away after admitting the victim to the hospital. The victim had suffered severe injuries to his brain, but had survived, thanks to the auto driver whose identity remains unknown.
The unidentified driver is not the only one from his profession in delivering such emergency services, say some senior Delhi Police officers who, upon getting to know, welcomed the Delhi Government’s proposal to reward any auto driver who helps a road accident victim.
As per the Delhi Government’s proposal, which is yet to be notified, auto drivers will be rewarded Rs. 2,000 for rushing road accident and trauma victims to hospitals.
“It is not uncommon to see auto drivers going out of their way to save accident victims,” said a senior police officer while terming it a “good initiative”. But, senior officers say, many aspects of the scheme will have to be worked out for ensuring that the active involvement of auto drivers is a success.
“Like the PCR staff, even the auto drivers should ideally be trained in providing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and other basic medical attention to victims as that often saves lives,” said the officer.
“Moreover, a PCR van or an ambulance has at least two to three persons who are trained in how to safely load the victim into the vehicle. It needs to be seen how effective will a lone auto driver be in doing that,” the officer said.
Another senior officer said that there should be a mechanism through which all auto drivers are aware of the hospitals nearest to the accident spot. “Maybe, if the government involves the Delhi Police in this initiative, we could work out a mechanism to keep the PCR vans in the loop during such times,” said the officer.
Another likely challenge, the police said, will be the response of hospitals when auto drivers bring in victims. “Hospitals are quick to admit the injured when they see the police accompanying them. We need to ensure that hospitals show the same response when they see auto drivers instead of policemen. Sensitising hospital staff about the developments should help,” said an officer.
